Course Syllabus
Thinking
Psychology 265
Spring 2005
Meeting times: Tu Th 2:30-3:4 5 Franz 6461
Instructor:
Keith Holyoak and Patricia Cheng
6613 Franz Hall, 206-1646
holyoak@lifesci.ucla.edu; cheng@lifesci.ucla.edu
Office hours: Fri 10-11 and by appointment
Purpose of Course: The intent is to develop understanding of major approaches to
thinking, with emphasis on inductive and deductive reasoning, categorization, analogy,
decision making, and problem solving. The course will examine a broad range of
theoretical approaches to cognition, including rule-based systems and neural-network
models. The various theories will be related to empirical studies of human thinking.
The readings will be largely drawn from chapters to appear in a handbook (bold items on
Course Outline):
Holyoak, K. J., & Morrison, R. G. (Eds.) (2005). Cambridge handbook of thinking and
reasoning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Readings are available as course packs from Wayne O’Byrne in Franz A225 (Psychology
copy center).
Course Requirements: There will be two midterm exams (the second scheduled for Finals
week) on lecture, discussion, and reading material, and also a term paper. Students are to
choose a paper topic by the class after the midterm exam; the topic must be approved by
the instructor. The paper is due end of 9th week. Grading will be based 30% on each of
the two midterm exams, and 40% on the paper.
Psych. 265 Syllabus
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Tentative Course Outline
Week 1
A. The Nature of Human Thinking
Apr 5
Overview
Holyoak & Morrison, Ch. 1
Apr 7
Computational approach to thinking
Marr
Searle
Apr 12
Mental models, schemas, and frames
Craik
Bransford & McCarrell
Rumelhart
Apr 14
Similarity
Goldstone & Son, Ch. 2
Concepts and categories
Medin & Rips, Ch. 4
Inductive reasoning
Sloman & Lagnado, Ch. 5
Apr 26
Causal learning
Buehner & Cheng, Ch. 7
April 28
Analogy and scientific reasoning
Holyoak, Ch. 6
Dunbar & Fugelsang, Ch. 29
May 3
Deductive reasoning
Evans, Ch. 8
May 5
Mental models approach
Johnson-Laird, Ch. 9
Week 2
Week 3
April 19
B. Reasoning
April 21
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
May 10
MIDTERM EXAM #1
C. Judgment and Decision Making
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Psych. 265 Syllabus
May 12
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Decision making
LeBoeuf & Shafir, Ch. 11
Heuristic judgment
Kahneman & Frederick, Ch. 12
Stanovich & West
Week 7
May 17
D. Problem Solving and Creativity
May 19
Problem solving
paper topics due
Novick & Bassok, Ch. 14
May 24
Production systems
Lovett & Anderson, Ch. 17
May 26
Creativity
Sternberg et al., Ch. 15
Schooler & Melcher
Week 8
Week 9
E. Evolutionary and Neural Constraints
May 31
Implicit cognition and evolution
Litman & Reber, Ch. 18
Call & Tomasello, Ch. 25
June 2
Working memory and thinking
Morrison, Ch. 19
Week 10
June 7
Neural basis of reasoning
Goel, Ch. 20
Gray et al.
June 9
MIDTERM EXAM #2
PAPERS DUE!
Bibliography (Individual Papers)
Bransford, J. D., & McCarrell, N. S. (1977). A sketch of a cognitive approach to comprehension:
Some thoughts about understanding what it means to comprehend. In P. N. Johnson-Laird &
P. C. Wason (Eds.) Thinking (Ch. 23; pp. 377- 399). Cambridge, Mass: Cambridge
University Press.
Cheng, P. W. (1999). Causal reasoning. In R. A. Wilson & F. C. Keil (Eds.), MIT Encyclopedia
of the cognitive sciences (pp. 106-108). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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Psych. 265 Syllabus
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Craik, K. (1943). Hypothesis on the nature of thought. From The nature of explanation (Ch. V;
pp. 50-61). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gray, J. R., Chabris, C. F., & Braver, T. S. (2003). Neural mechanisms of fluid intelligence.
Nature Neuroscience, 6, 316-322.
Marr, D. (1982). Vision ("Understanding complex information-processing systems;" pp. 19-29).
New York: W. H. Freeman.
Rumelhart, D. E. (1980). Schemata: The building blocks of cognition. In R. J. Spiro, B. C. Bruce
& W. F. Brewer (Eds.), Theoretical issues in reading comprehension (pp. 33-58). Hillsdale.
NJ: Erlbaum.
Schooler, J. W., & Melcher, J. (1995). The ineffability of insight. In S. M. Smith, T. B. Ward &
R. A. Finke (Eds.), The creative cognition approach (pp. 97-133). Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Searle, J. R. (1999). Chinese room argument. In R. A. Wilson & F. C. Keil (Eds.), MIT
encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences (pp. 115-116). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (1998). Individual differences in rational thought. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General, 127, 161-188.
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